Jonny Bairstow must be a confused man at the moment. With the bat in his hand, he seems almost incapable of doing any wrong. In the first Test against Sri Lanka, Jonny teamed up with Alex Hales with England in trouble at 83 for five.
From there on, it was the Bairstow show as his belligerent 183-ball 140 took the hosts close to 300, a total that proved more than enough for an innings win. An excellent Test was capped with nine catches behind the stumps.
The second Test saw Bairstow hit an equally earnest 48 which helped England get close to 500 and battle their way to a series-clinching win. The third match currently going on at Lord’s followed a similar pattern with the Yorkshireman cracking a brilliant 167 not out after Alastair Cook’s side were 84 for four.
While all this seems too good to be true, the other major aspect of Bairstow’s game is not shining with the same resplendence, apart from the opening Test at Headingley.
Bairstow the wicketkeeper has long been in the spotlight for his glove-work which is, admittedly, not in the same category as Ian Healy. While his first-class record of 300-plus catches indicates his proficiency with the gloves, the step up to international level has not been smooth.
Ever since he took over from Jos Buttler as the main wicketkeeper, Bairstow has struggled to assert himself as effectively with the glove as he has with the bat. He missed catches in all four Tests in South Africa and in the ongoing series against the Sri Lankans, his wicketkeeping has again come in for criticism, despite the nine catches in the first Test.
On Friday, Bairstow grassed what was a regulation caught behind from left-hander Dimuth Karunaratne off the bowling of Chris Woakes. A lot of possible explanations were put forward with the slope of Lord’s and a late wobble among the most prominent.
But even taking those into account, it looked terrible and failure to pouch such simple takes is what brings back questions about Bairstow’s technique.
Already, there is talk of Bairstow playing as a regular batsman, in place of Nick Compton, and bringing in the equally dynamic Buttler as the wicketkeeper.
That looks like a simple solution but for Bairstow’s development as a player, it could prove detrimental.
Look at the wheels on @jbairstow21. The padded-up keeper beat two slips in a foot race for a brilliant diving stop 💨 https://t.co/4BOzi4soiu
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 11, 2016
When asked about his views on Bairstow, Australian wicketkeeping great Adam Gilchrist had this to say: “Bairstow’s clearly more settled as a batsman when he’s wicket-keeping and it’s certainly a situation I can relate to. To play just as a batsman, you can often feel a little bit half there, half not. Whereas if you’re focused on your wicket-keeping, your batting can relax and I suspect that’s the case with Bairstow.”
Looking at the team dynamics, it is tempting to relieve Bairstow of his duties but taking into account Gilchrist’s views, it might just end up reducing his effectiveness with the bat as well.
The 26-year-old has played just 26 Tests and is still to reach the peak of his abilities. Whether he can raise his game substantially is a matter of debate. But what England should keep in mind is that a ‘decent’ wicketkeeper has done the job for other teams.
The Sri Lankans have entrusted Dinesh Chandimal with wicketkeeper’s duties even though he is a specialist batsman. The South Africans had AB de Villiers as the designated gloveman mainly for his incredible batting skills, even if his keeping fell short of the mark on a few occasions.
Bairstow has made it clear he wants to be the wicketkeeper and improve his level.
Whether England can afford to see him score freely while dropping chances every now and then is debatable. But if Bairstow is asked to play purely as a batsman, I get a feeling he won’t be as effective.
England might recover from such an experiment but I don’t know if Jonny could.
India middle order batsman Ambati Rayudu made his first-class debut in 2001.
From an early age, he was earmarked as a future batting heavyweight and a potential captain. But following a disastrous move to the ‘rebel’ Indian Cricket League, his career stagnated and it took him some time to get back into contention for national duty.
He didn’t give up, though, and following decent efforts in the IPL Rayudu made his ODI debut in 2013 and now has more than 1,000 one-day runs under his belt at an average of close to 50.
Ambati Rayudu 1000 ODI runs in 29 innings
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) June 11, 2016
Only Dhawan/Kohli (24), Sidhu (25) have done it quicker for India
MSD also needed 29 inns#ZimvInd
That might seem impressive but on the ground, Rayudu the batsman seems to lack that edge which can make him the backbone of Indian batting. His strike rate in ODIs is 75.00 and that is prehistoric.
So while he does accumulate runs, he does it at a pace that generally doesn’t do the team much good.
Even against Zimbabwe in the first ODI on Saturday, Rayudu took a staggering 120 balls to remain unbeaten on 62. While the target was just 169, the 30-year-old’s inability to assert himself even against Zimbabwe was difficult to watch.
